Chicago Shakespeare Theater's North American premiere of en route hits city streets from July 12 to August 13, 2011. Audience members are invited on an extraordinary journey through downtown streetscapes, building lobbies and cafés-guided by audio tracks and mobile phone communication-as their shifting perceptions make and remake the city they inhabit. Devised specifically for the City of Chicago by Australian company one step at a time like this, en route creates a place where the private and public, imaginary and concrete, intersect and overlap. Melbourne-based artists Suzanne Kersten, Clair Korobacz, Paul Moir and Julian Rickert generate their work from collaborative investigations, shaped primarily by the environment of a specific place-inviting audience members to participate in the theatrical event, encouraging rich and personalized experiences. The company is the recipient of a London 2012 Festival Cultural Olympiad commission to create en route in London as part of next summer's Olympic Games. The piece has received critical acclaim at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and Australia's Melbourne and Adelaide Fringe Festivals.
The journey of en route incorporates audio tracks, cell phone communication, text messaging, downtown thoroughfares, hotel lobbies, passers-by and cafés. This pedestrian-based, live art event begins with a text message that gives instructions on where to meet the artists. Each of the travelers who go on the "journey" must come with their cell phone and borrow a specially programmed MP3 player, which enhances the experience with music from local Chicago musicians, and spoken text pieces.
Presented in association with the Chicago Office of Tourism and Culture, en route is the centerpiece of Chicago's 2011 summer tourism initiative, Urban Excursions: Explore Chicago. The presentation of en route is a partnership created by Chicago Shakespeare Theater presenting the signature, interactive pedestrian event with Richard Jordan Productions, Ltd; en route's official hotel, Kimpton Hotels; additional support from Motorola Mobility Foundation; and assistance from the Australian Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body. "En route provides an innovative way to see the City of Chicago as a unique form of theater," said Dorothy Coyle, Executive Director, Chicago Office of Tourism and Culture. "It is the perfect centerpiece for Urban Excursions: Explore Chicago, our 2011 summer initiative showcasing hundreds of treks and other urban adventures downtown and throughout the neighborhoods."
The Chicago performances of en route are presented by Chicago Shakespeare Theater, one step at a time like this and Richard Jordan Productions, Ltd in association with the Chicago Office of Tourism and Culture. Tickets for en route are $35 and go on sale July 5, 2011. Performances are July 12-August 13, 2011, Tuesday through Saturday, with staggered departures beginning at 11 a.m., 2 p.m. and 5 p.m. each day. At least 24 hours prior to their scheduled departure time, audience members receive a text message directing them to a starting point in the northeast Loop. For more information or to purchase tickets, call the Chicago Shakespeare Theater box office at 312.595.5600.
About one step at a time like this
The works of Melbourne-based one step at a time like this have a preoccupation with the place and role of the audience. The company's work is informed, above all, by an emphasis on relationships: between people, and qualities of space and time. The connective and often intimate nature of their work reflects the company's interest in engaging audience members in the activity-and by extension the creation-of a work of meaning. The hope is to create invitations, resonances and pathways toward a more engaged and particularized experience of live theatre and lived relations. In addition to presentations of en route at the 2010 Darwin Festival, 2010 Brisbane Laneways Festival, 2010 Adelaide Fringe Festival and 2009 Melbourne Fringe Festival, the company's recent works include: Contemplating Gold, a walk-in outdoor cinema installation (ANZ bank wall, Castlemaine, presented by Punctum Live Art organization, 2009); Pillow Talk, a bed for casual discourse (commissioned by Arts House, Look Out Between Season, 2009); war lounge (Melbourne Fringe Festival, 2008) in which audiences oscillated between a lounge-bar and three small concrete rooms where performers examined the conflict between their own mediated experience of war and the desire to respond; and Beast Banquet (commissioned by City of Yarra for the re-opening of Fitzroy Town Hall, 2007), which brought the audience to a dysfunctional wedding table as guests, confidants and interlopers.
